China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) Limited announced that the first phase of the seismic exploration project jointly operated by companies from China, the Philippines and Vietnam finished ahead of schedule Wednesday.

With CNOOC Ltd. as the operator and China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COS), a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in charge of seismic data collection, the joint undertaking has seen the workload in 2006 finished so far.

The joint marine seismic undertaking was launched on Aug. 26 with the No. 502 geophysical vessel of COS set out from Shenzhen city of South China's Guangdong Province for the agreed area.

To date, the COS has finished seismic data collection of two-dimensional seismic waves of 11,020 kilometers and has made China's monthly workload record of 4,988.3 kms in October.

CNOOC, Philippine Oil Corporation and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation signed an agreement on a joint marine seismic undertaking in the South China Sea Region in March this year.

According to the agreement, the three parties will jointly gather two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic data and process two-dimensional seismic data within an area which covers 140,000 square kilometers, in three years.

The cooperation is an important measure for the three parties to jointly implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. It will benefit peoples of the three countries and make a historic contribution to stability and peace in the region, said CNOOC.

Listed in Hong Kong, COS is China's largest offshore oil field services company, with CNOOC, China's largest offshore oil producer, holding a 65 percent share.

Source: Xinhua